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The pyloric central pattern generator in Crustacea: a set of conditional neuronal oscillators

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Summary

In the stomatogastric nervous system of the Cape lobster,Jasus lalandii, all the neurons comprising the pyloric central pattern generator are cellular oscillators. This was shown by isolating in situ pyloric neurons from all other elements in the pyloric network. These neuronal oscillators are conditional and require modulatory inputs from anterior centers in order to express their oscillatory capabilities.

  1. 1.

    Pyloric neurons were isolated from their counterparts in the network by photoinactivation of most of their presynaptic neurons (Miller and Selverston 1979, 1982a), and completed by pharmacological blockade of the remaining presynaptic influences. Under these conditions, all pyloric neurons display spontaneous bursting and underlying oscillations of their membrane potential.

  2. 2.

    Both period and amplitude of oscillation in all isolated pyloric neurons vary when their membrane potential is modified by current injection. Furthermore, in isolated constrictor neurons (LP, PY and IC) the duration of the rhythmic regenerative depolarizations is also dependent on membrane potential.

  3. 3.

    After isolation in situ, each type of pyloric neuron manifests a particular oscillatory behavior. The isolated interneuron AB has the fastest oscillation period with the shortest depolarizing phase. These oscillations closely resemble AB oscillations in the intact network. At the other extreme are the constrictor neurons (LP, PY and IC) which, when isolated, display spontaneous oscillations rather different from their oscillations in the intact network. Oscillations of isolated pyloric constrictor neurons are rhythmical plateaus whose duration and frequency are fairly irregular.

  4. 4.

    When axonal conduction is blocked in the single input nerve to the stomatogastric ganglion, none of the isolated pyloric neurons is able to oscillate whether at rest or when their membrane potential is modified by current injection. Under these conditions, electrical stimulation of the input nerve on the ganglionic side of the block restores oscillations in isolated pyloric neurons.

  5. 5.

    In conclusion, the pyloric network can be considered as a set of conditional oscillatory neurons, one of which, the interneuron AB, has a pacemaker function.

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Abbreviations

AB :

anterior burster neuron

BPP :

bursting pacemaker potential

CPG :

central pattern generator

PD :

dilator motor neuron

STG :

stomatogastric ganglion

VD :

ventricular dilator

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Neurobiologie et Physiologie Comparées, CNRS et Université de Bordeaux, 1, place Docteur B. Peyneau, F-33120, Arcachon, France

    Thierry Bal, Frédéric Nagy & Maurice Moulins

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  1. Thierry Bal
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  2. Frédéric Nagy
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  3. Maurice Moulins
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Bal, T., Nagy, F. & Moulins, M. The pyloric central pattern generator in Crustacea: a set of conditional neuronal oscillators. J. Comp. Physiol. 163, 715–727 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00604049

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